Unexpected Home Delivery

by Birth Without Fear on December 5, 2016

Maria tells the touching story of her daughter’s birth.

On June 1st at around 7:30 a.m., the day my daughter was born I woke up with cramps and the need to use the bathroom a lot (I thought the spicy chips from the night before had something to do with it since I couldn’t tolerate anything spicy throughout the pregnancy). The cramps kept getting closer together but remained tolerable, and I found that it was better sitting down than laying down.

So I decided to take a shower hoping maybe it would stop, since I had heard baths and showers stop the cramping if it’s fake labor, and speed it up if it’s the real deal. While I was showering, it kept on getting worse and I couldn’t stay calm; I was screaming and wanting to calm down, but I just couldn’t.

I got out of the shower, went to lie down, and texted my husband to tell him that I was having bad cramps but that my stomach wasn’t hard like the contractions everyone describes. The pain wasn’t letting up, so I went to the bathroom to sit, screaming all the while; my husband called and I don’t remember what he asked, but I told him to come home.

All of a sudden I felt the need to bear down, and I texted my husband to call an ambulance for me because baby was coming and there was no stopping her. At 12:19 p.m., I delivered her. She came out looking around; I put her on my chest for skin-to-skin time, she let out a little cry after that, and about five minutes later I delivered the placenta.

Paramedics came five minutes after that so I had to open the door because my husband wasn’t here yet! He actually got home just in time to cut the cord! This all happened within 30 minutes of getting out of the shower—and just four minutes of pushing. At the hospital they checked me and saw that I had a tiny tear that didn’t need stitches; they checked the baby as well, and she was perfectly fine.

It is so amazing what our bodies do! I hope this story empowers more moms in knowing that they can do it!